This invention relates to a housing support and particularly to the support of a housing containing a rotatable device such as an electric motor.
Such a housing needs to be suitably located and is often supported upon a horizontal surface. However, sometimes the housing needs to be supported in other locations e.g. under a horizontal surface or against a vertical surface, and the housing support has to be suitable for these other locations.
Conventionally, bolts have been used as the main components of the housing support, but whilst these are suitable for supporting static loads, if the housing contains a rotatable device, dynamic forces acting in various directions are created and these cause the housing to move and sometimes the bolts to break. Although it is possible to prevent this breakage by using more expensive and stronger bolts, the undue movement of the housing is difficult to prevent merely by using the stronger bolts.
DE-A-322242864 discloses a housing support connected to a housing containing a rotatable electrical machine by means of bolts.
DE-A-1801104 discloses a housing support for a housing containing a rotatable electrical machine, the support comprising a support member, a location zone on the housing for receiving the support member, two spaced-apart connecting means for securing the support member to the housing at the location zone, and two recesses, one formed in the location zone and the other in the support member, whereby when the support member is secured to the location zone by means of the connecting means, the recesses face one another and define a chamber positioned between the connecting means, a key being located in the chamber for receiving some of the forces which would otherwise be received by the connecting means.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved housing support which does not suffer from or suffers less from the aforementioned disadvantages.
In accordance with the invention a housing support for a housing containing a rotatable device comprises a support member, a location zone on the housing for receiving the support member, two spaced-apart connecting means for securing the support member to the housing at the location zone, and two recesses, one formed in the location zone and the other in the support member, whereby when the support member is secured to the location zone by means of the connecting means, the recesses face one another and define a chamber positioned between the connecting means, a key being located in the chamber for receiving some of the forces which would otherwise be received by the connecting means characterised in that the chamber formed by the recesses and the key are elongated in a direction parallel to the rotational axis of the device.
Preferably the connecting means comprises a screw-threaded bolt which is capable of being positioned in a smooth-sided hole in the support member and received in a screw-threaded bore in the zone.
Preferably the recess in the zone is elongated and has a longer axis which is in line with the centers of the bores and the recess in the support member is similarly elongated and has a longer axis which is in line with the centers of the holes.